THE PARENTS of a four-year-old girl claim an ambulance service failed in its duty of care, when their daughter broke her arm but was told she would have to wait an hour for an ambulance.

Adele and Justin McCarthy say they were told by East Midlands Ambulance Service that their daughter, Caitlin, was not a priority for immediate ambulance despatch.

Caitlin broke her upper-arm at her New Mills home last month. Her parents are both qualified nurses and opted to drive her to hospital themselves.

But Caitlin's ordeal was prolonged for a further hour, when their car became snarled in Sunday afternoon traffic.

Mrs McCarthy, of Cowburn Drive, claimed: "They (the ambulance service) caused unnecessary suffering. I feel they failed in their duty of care to her.

"I intend to take it as far as I can. I think they need to make some changes to the way they deal with children. I don't intend to let it drop."

They have already taken their case to High Peak MP Tom Levitt, who confirmed he is writing to the Department of Health to investigate the matter.

Caitlin was playing at home on when she tumbled down the stairs and immediately began screaming.

Mrs McCarthy said: "I could see that the arm was broken. It was a clear break of the humerus.

"The easiest way to describe it is that I could see that the upper arm was pointing towards the chest.

"She was screaming and crying, totally inconsolable."

Mrs McCarthy said when her husband called for an ambulance, he was taken through a drill of questions by an operator to assess Caitlin's condition, only to be told she was not a priority for an ambulance, although a nurse adviser would call back "within the hour", she claimed.

The McCarthys took their complaint to the Patient Advisory Liaison Service and were subsequently visited by a representative and a clinical manager on behalf of the ambulance service.

Mrs McCarthy said: "It felt almost bizarre. They apologised and said, yes, she should have had an ambulance and possibly a blue light ambulance." They were also told that a change in 999 response policy brought in last October means that operators have to run through a set list of questions before the computer determines priority.

But Mrs McCarthy claims she was told that Caitlin's screams were clearly audible on the tape recording of the phone call.

And she added: "If somebody said you have broken your arm, my instinct as a nurse would be to ask if is there any internal bleeding? But they said that they had to disregard the fact that we were nurses. If he had dispatched an ambulance she should have been given instant pain relief. They could have made her more comfortable."

Phil Morris, spokesman for EMAS said it had carried out an investigation.

He said: "When the call was received, it was graded as a Category C (non life-threatening) call based on the information given. In accordance with Department of Health protocols, we advised that a Triage (assessment) nurse would call back as soon as possible. However, the parents decided they could not wait for this and decided to take their daughter to hospital by car.

"The investigation did reveal that the call-taker omitted to ask a question about whether there was any deformity to the limb or whether it was a compound fracture. We are sure that if the Triage nurse had been able to speak to the parents, and ask these questions, an ambulance would have been sent. However, we appreciate that the parents felt they needed to take their daughter to hospital without delay.

"We have very carefully reviewed this incident. And additional training and advice has been given in relation to the way the call was dealt with. We are sure this will prevent any recurrence but will monitor the situation to ensure that standards are maintained. We have expressed our apologies to the parents for any distress this incident may have caused."